Hyderabad, March 24 -- NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, of Indian descent, is in the news this week. Her team has returned safely to Earth after spending nine months in space. Williams and her teammate Butch Wilmore had intended to be in space for eight days, but technical problems extended their mission. The spacecraft returned without them in September. This week, they landed in a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule with Nick Hague and Alexander Gorbunov.

After landing near Tallahassee, they were taken on stretchers for health checks. Her return is a moment of immense pride for leaders in India and across the globe, and it denotes a significant leap in space exploration. Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote an emotional letter to the "illustrious ...